Many companies are turning to virtual desktop infrastructures (VDIs) to access their business applications, operating systems, and data. Desktop virtualization has been on the rise in recent years as businesses have begun to shift toward greater use of remote employees. With VDIs, employees can access their workstations from anywhere on any device at any time.
There are many VDI benefits to organizations. Chief among these are:
- Reduced hardware costs
- Better security
- Increased flexibility
- Centralized management
Every business will use remote access systems like VDIs slightly differently. This article will focus on some of the VDI benefits that can occur in businesses and organizations.
Reduced Hardware Costs
Consider a small nonprofit organization that depends on private donations and grants for most of its funding. The organization must keep its costs extremely low in order to maximize the impact of its core programs. It does not have regular opportunities to upgrade hardware.
Because all of its applications are VDI-based, the organization has low requirements for new hardware and upgrades. Its employees, many of whom are volunteers, access their virtual desktops from their own equipment. This has greatly reduced the need for capital expenditures on hardware.
Reallocate IT Work Hours
Because IT does not need to set up and maintain devices, it can spend less time on hardware and more time on other concerns. Think about the time associated with maintaining a fleet of physical desktops. By using VDIs, that time can be spent on tech improvements rather than maintenance.
Improved Security
Imagine an agency that handles sensitive documents and information. If laptops or other devices were stolen or compromised, it would pose a significant threat. The agency is safer when using VDI environments because data is stored virtually rather than on endpoint devices.
Consider the needs of a health care agency or office, in which privacy is a central concern. A VDI can have customized permissions with different levels of access for different levels of authenticated personnel. Staff can access medical records or other records from the virtual desktop of any device in the facility — so long as they have the proper permissions necessary.
Increased Flexibility
A business that operates in the hospitality industry will have employees that coordinate with a variety of stakeholders to ensure a positive guest experience. Such businesses have remote employees in multiple cities who need to coordinate multiple deliverables.
VDI benefits in this case come from the increased freedom of working with any internet-connected device at any hour. Regardless of how they access their virtual desktop, the users’ experiences will look the same. In addition to increasing flexibility, VDIs can also reduce the learning curve on new tasks.
Centralized Management
Schools have always struggled to keep pace with changing technology. VDIs make it easy for schools and school districts to grow and change. The centralized format of VDIs allow for quick and easy patches and updates to be rolled out. A school district can manage all of the virtual desktops in its system from the central office.
There are other advantages to using VDIs in schools too. Students can have their own login credentials that they can use on any device in the school. These student desktops can be added and deleted as enrollment changes.
Device-sharing can occur in schools that lack sufficient devices for every student. And IT can also control which applications students have access to and on which devices. No longer are students bound by physical locations; with VDI, every device becomes a computer lab.
Remote Work
An international publishing company has freelance writers that connect to their virtual desktops from anywhere in the world. It has a sales team out working on the road and in offices in several major cities. Even before the pandemic, the company was transitioning to remote work; COVID-19 hastened the inevitable trend.
As more and more companies realize the benefits of remote work, the trend demonstrated by this publishing company will continue, and VDIs enable this change.
Multiple Devices
Many employers furnish more than one device to their employees. While this can improve productivity, it creates certain requirements for the devices that employees will work on. A VDI allows workers to access their virtual desktop from their physical desktop at work, from their laptop, or from any device they might expect to use.
BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) VDI Benefits
VDIs experience synergy with so-called “bring your own device” programs, in which employees use their own endpoint devices. They bring fully functioning virtual desktops to the user’s physical devices, integrating their experience seamlessly.
VDI benefits from BYOD occur at the universities, too. Students have always been encouraged to use their own devices, and VDIs level the playing field. This provides a consistent educational experience for all.
An Overview of VDI Benefits
VDI benefits exist in almost every business sector imaginable. The primary incentive for organizations to adopt a VDI is monetary. Cost reductions are inevitable with a proper VDI strategy, resulting primarily from centralization.
With respect to IT resources, centralization achieves both greater control of operations and greater security. It permits IT departments to assess and monitor operations in real-time and make adjustments, as necessary.
The trend toward more diverse forms of VDIz will continue, due in no small part to the trends toward BYOD and remote work. These trends will be augmented by the need for better systems for security, especially in regulated industries. Health care, education, and government applications are only a few of those that have already seen a meteoric growth rate since the inception of VDIs in 2006.
IT Services Group
Does your business still use a large number of traditional desktop environments? It may be time to upgrade to a virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI). Contact us today to learn how a VDI can improve your IT operations.
